


Not the Same

by orphan_account



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Gen, i barely edited it along with a friend, i havent written... fanfics in... decades, i made a friend sob because of this, this is technically the first fanfic i ever posted, what a perfect day for angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-06
Updated: 2016-10-06
Packaged: 2018-08-19 21:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8224822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: iamnobloody from tumblr is the one who thought this prompt through, i wrote the fanfic. also 40% is ideally half-assed so i apologize





	

**Author's Note:**

> iamnobloody from tumblr is the one who thought this prompt through, i wrote the fanfic. also 40% is ideally half-assed so i apologize

"Hello, dear listeners..." Eiffel's voice croaked, gripping weakly on his handheld recorder. "I... forgot I still had this, er, thing. I suppose I can try to use it to..." Eiffel sighed wearily. He just seemed to be curled up in his quarters when he's not really assigned to do some tiring shift. He lazily clung to his bed, which he was barely strapped in. That - that as in, moving too much - seemed to make his torso drift away too far from the bed which gave surprising comfort, and the very tired communications officer had to grasp the frame at times. Around him, he had not much else to focus on. The window across the pod that he calls his quarters usually got empty at this time of day. His wardrobe of various shirts, jackets, and jumpsuits were leisurely sprawled all over his quarters. Miscellaneous objects were scattered near the small cabinet just downwards on his left. He sighed again, thinking that he should continue talking to his recording (and maybe even clean his damn room), but he couldn't find anything to say. Well... there was this other thing, he pondered, and took a deep breath.

"It's been a few days since Maxwell... um..."

He hesitated. He wanted to hesitate. No matter how much he didn't want to admit his dislike about what recently occurred, Officer Eiffel, with his emotions bottled up from the brim of his capacity for so long, wanted to let it all out. Conflicting feelings were often very hard to handle, and Eiffel was sure that he would spontaneously go with one feeling because of not being sure which to pick.

"Well, our own version of Bill Gates over here, she, she figured out how to..." Eiffel seemed to have never ceased to think about sighing, "Fix Hera, I guess... but... she had to... delete her memory bank - I dunno - storage." Eiffel ran his fingers through his hair, and sighed again, narrowing his eyes in discomfort and misery. "She's... not... the same." He immediately seemed to regret saying that, suddenly glared to his left, hoping to find some way. Some way to get the old Hera back.

"Although... She still... sounds the same, she barely remembers me. I can't..."

Another sigh.

Eiffel raised his tone slightly with a slight whimper in his speech, ready to spill and vent his feelings in the deep, dark void that is space. "I can't - I haven't even talked to her. I'm glad she's alright but," He looked down, and tears have accumulated in his eyes. He sighed with a shudder and closed his eyelids, letting the tears be, at least, slightly removed from his figuratively drowning eyes. "It's not the Hera I knew - I don't know how to approach her - I just -"

The man sobbed, but not too loudly. Eiffel badly wanted no one to notice, but things turned a certain, yet unforeseen way for Eiffel. Hera, the newly improved Hera, as the usual eye in the sky, was able to hear him. Her curiosity had made her feel something that felt new, defined as pity for the poor officer. She tried to process what was going on, and she had to think of going through with that with interacting with Officer Eiffel.

"Excuse me, sir?"

A wave of shock ran through Eiffel and he urgently tried to hide the fact that he was crying. Thoroughly wiping his entire mess of a face in less than 5 seconds with a blanket was not something he prepared for. "H-Hera," he stuttered badly, "I-is that you?" He was quite shaken. He tried curling himself up in a semi-fetal position, poorly trying not to indicate that he was in distress. "Well, yes, Officer Eiffel, I suppose so." She sounded very calm and collected, yet the lack of familiarity in her voice deeply affected Eiffel.

"Is... it still you, H-Hera?" Eiffel paused for a moment, and instantly regretting his action. He shakily mumbled to himself in his mind, _she's gone she's gone she's gone -_

"I," the confused AI froze, "I do not know what you mean, sir." Hera seemed to be exposed to another weird feeling: a vague sense of what was described as melancholy or yearning for a past, distant memory. She felt like she had known the crying officer way before she woke up. _I heard humans describe it as déjà vu of sorts,_ Hera thought to herself. She was deep in thought until Eiffel started crying and wailing loudly, releasing his anguish. She wouldn't understand anyway, not now, at least.

"Sir?" Hera inquired, looking through her database for a solution to her current situation. The AI was now intensely worried, wanting to help Eiffel to at least feel a bit better. She had never seen such a fragile human as much as he was. He weakly replied with a barely audible whisper, sniffing. "W-what is it..."

As he wiped his face yet again with his blanket, Hera hummed with a welcoming yet worried tone. "Is there anything I can do to help you, sir?"

Eiffel stared longingly at one of Hera's cameras. He wanted comfort. He needed company. For a very long time, Eiffel had felt all sorts of loneliness. He felt quite alone even more, along with his recent and past losses. Minkowski tried her best to help him, but it wasn't enough. He still felt alone in a station of many people.

Still trying to think of how to make himself feel better, Doug thought of when he first talked to Hera. Eiffel was very anxious about talking to her, feeling a slight inferiority and fear as if she was of the highest possible authority. He tried to converse with the AI with a small, lighthearted joke, which resulted in the communications officer being bombarded with the most clever and complex sense of humor Hera had. He felt welcome and appreciated, a thing he had never truly experienced in years.

"I just... need someone to be with, I guess..."

Maybe this indicated a new start for both of them, he thought. _We can be friends again! She wouldn't have to remember anything bad that happened to her. She gets to live happier and healthier, like they say in food supplement ads. I can be with her again, and -_

"Well, I'm here, technically, always. I guess it's a good time to say that I've been programmed to make everyone feel alright. I'll be here for you, okay?"

Eiffel sighed with a mix of regret, happiness, and just plain old sleepiness. He felt at least a bit welcome, even if the Hera he knew now might have changed. Even if she did, he thought to himself, he knew she was still looking out for him. Even if it would take a long time to feel like what he felt before with the old Hera (and somehow quite impossible to achieve), he would still be okay with her. It was a new start, and he would eventually have to change along with everything else.

"Thank you, Hera..."


End file.
